In a bid to reach its three million barrel per day output target by 2023, state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) will launch an oil licensing round in 2020 for its offshore and onshore blocks.
NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, highlighted that deepwater exploration activities in the country needed to be escalated.
“Before the end of this year or next year, God willing, I believe there will be some form of bid rounds in that space,” he said.
Earlier this month, an amendment of the fiscal terms for existing production sharing contracts between foreign oil producers and the NNPC was signed into law, increasing government’s share of revenue from oil produced from deepwater fields. This has led to concerns from analysts and industry experts that the new law could deter future foreign investments into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The bidding round will be launched after government and international oil companies finish talks regarding the new fiscal terms for oil exploration.
